When he was introduced as Rutgers football coach, Kyle Flood quipped that the difference between being an assistant and the man in charge is that “the head coach drives a red Escalade and the assistant head coach doesn’t.’’

While it’s true that Flood took over the lease of Greg Schiano’s SUV when he inherited the Scarlet Knights football program last winter, his ride is about the only thing used around the Rutgers football complex these days.

Everything else is new — from the captain of the ship, to the gaudy uniforms, to the food inside High Point Solutions Stadium.

With Schiano now piloting the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers after having resurrected the Rutgers football program from the dregs of college football into a five-time bowl champion, it’s a new era on the banks of the Old Raritan.

It’s “the time of the flood,’’ as the school’s alma mater aptly puts it, and unlike his predecessor, the new Scarlet skipper isn’t shying away from expectations in Year 1.

“I said in my opening-day press conference that the time is right for Rutgers to win championships,’’ Flood said on the eve of preseason camp in July. “We understand how hard that is and that’s something we haven’t done at Rutgers. But we feel that we have the people in the program right now and the time is right not only to win bowl championships but Big East championships and BCS championships.’’

To earn that right, the Scarlet Knights will have to answer the same questions that prevented Schiano from perennially clearing that conference-championship hurdle.

–> Can the Scarlet Knights get consistent play out of their quarterback after settling on Gary Nova to engineer the offense late in training camp?
–> Will a rushing attack that has finished last or next-to-last each of the past four seasons since Ray Rice took his talents to the NFL finally produce consistently positive results?
–> Can an offensive line that features a different bodies at all five spots prove to be a strength rather than the weakness it has been in recent seasons?
–> Will a defense that’s being billed as one of the nation’s elite carry this team when it matters most?

Answer those questions in the affirmative and Flood’s lofty statement might just prove prophetic.

Since his arrival, Flood has made it clear that he kept most of the core values that Schiano instituted, from the “chop mantra,’’ to the “R symbol’’ that’s seemingly stamped everywhere on campus.

Those core values also include the philosophies that Flood will be passing on to his charges this season.

“The vision of the Rutgers football program, the offense, the defense and the special teams,’’ Flood said, “that is not going to change.’’

Or as new defensive coordinator Robb Smith put it, “The same fundamentals, the same core values, the same philosophies that made Rutgers football play at the level (defensively) that it did, those things are still here for us.’’

“What I’m trying to do is take that foundation and take it to a higher level. And hopefully win a Big East championship, and compete in a BCS game. Absolutely I want to put my stamp on it, but at the same time we’re not going to vary from the core values in which this defense was built on.’’

While Dave Brock replaced Frank Cignetti as Rutgers’ offensive coordinator, the pro-style scheme that allowed the Scarlet Knights to improve from one of the nation’s worst in 2010 to a unit that ranked third-best among Big East teams in total offense last fall remains intact.

“It’s similar. It’s not the same,’’ said Brock, who arrives at Rutgers after successful stints at Boston College, Kansas State and North Carolina. “There are certain things that we’ve put in that they didn’t do in the past. But from a terminology standpoint it’s almost identical to what it was.’’

Still, keeping the offensive scheme intact begs the question of whether the Scarlet Knights can establish a ground game after ranking last in the Big East and 116th nationally in rushing offense last fall.

“Really the last quarter of the season last year, I think we got back to being a pro-style offense, which is what we were built for,’’ said Flood, who plans to split carries between third-year sophomore Jawan Jamison and sophomore Savon Huggins early this season. “It’s what we recruited to. We drifted away from that the two prior years and I think what you saw the last four games last season. … That’s really what gives me the optimism. Now they’ve got to go out and prove they can do it.”

Of course, much of that rushing success will depend on whether the Scarlet Knights can settle the issues that have been plaguing their offensive line in recent seasons. After yielding an NCAA-record 61 sacks and producing one of the nation’s worst rushing attacks in 2010, Rutgers showed moderate improvement up front.

But the unit, which has been led by Flood since 2005, was anything but dominant for most of the season.

“I think we can improve on what we did last year,’’ Flood said. “I don’t know if I want to set any goals beyond that, but I do expect us to be better than we were. My expectation is that we will surpass where we were last year, which I think will be another year of improvement at that position. The more continuity that we can build, and the faster that we can build it, I think we have enough talent to exceed those expectations. But I think that has to be our first goal.’’

Replacing Flood as the offensive line mentor is Damian Wroblewski, who expressed optimism about a unit that includes left tackle Kaleb Johnson, left guard Antwan Lowery, center Betim Bujari, right guard Andre Civil and right tackle R.J. Dill. All five have varying degrees of experience, but none lined up at their respective positions for Rutgers last season.

“I am confident,’’ Wroblewski said. “Right now the important thing for me as a coach is to teach the process and not concern myself with the result. Because the more they can learn, the more they can do, the better the result is going to be. Whether they’ll be the strength of the team, I don’t know. … I know that we are going to do our job.’’

Settling on one quarterback

When the Scarlet Knights open their campaign against Tulane on Saturday (8 p.m., CBS Sports Network) in New Orleans, Gary Nova will represent the fifth different quarterback to start the season under center for the Scarlet Knights. Ever since Mike Teel graduated in 2008 as the program’s all-time leading passer, Rutgers has struggled to produce consistent results at the most important position on the field.

Rutgers’ hopes of reversing that trend rests on Nova, who is looking to improve on his 51.1 percent passing accuracy from his freshman campaign.

“To be a good high-percentage passer you have to know everything (about an offense),’’ said Nova, who as a true freshman last fall started five of the 10 games in which he played. “I think I have a much better understanding of that then I did last year. I think also a lot of the mishaps I had last year — interceptions and stuff like that — I learned that I need to take care of the ball.’’

Since midway through the 2010 season, Schiano played a game of musical chairs at the quarterback position, shuffling Chas Dodd and Tom Savage during the tumultuous 4-8 campaign and last season playing both Nova and Dodd from week to week. While it’s not easy to determine whether Schiano’s shuffling was the reason why Rutgers finished 76th and 95th nationally in passing efficiency the past two seasons, but Flood vowed from the moment he took over that he would settle on one quarterback moving forward.

“To me, you want your quarterback to protect the ball first and foremost, to complete the ball and lead the team,’’ Flood said. “The starter will get every opportunity to do that as long as they are progressing in those three areas.”

After earning the starting nod over Dodd in the final week of training camp, Nova talked about making Rutgers’ passing struggles a thing of the past. The 6-2, 225-pound sophomore doesn’t need to lead the Big East in passing yards for the Scarlet Knights to be successful this season; he simply needs to execute the three criteria Flood set in determining his starter this summer:

1) Protect the ball; 2) Complete the ball; 3) Lead the team

“The biggest thing is just being a leader out there,’’ Nova said. “The quarterback needs to be that guy.’’

Earning it on the field

Can the Scarlet Knights finally solve the issues that prevented Schiano from turning the corner? Only time will tell, but the new man in charge isn’t shying away from the lofty goals he set last winter.

“Again,’’ he said at the end of training camp last week, “we have to earn that on the field. I’ve said before that I think the time is right for Rutgers to win championships. We don’t take that lightly. That’s something that has never been done here before. We have to earn that right to say that every week. And that will start this week when we play Tulane.’’

About Keith Sargeant

Keith Sargeant is a graduate of Middlesex County College and Kean University. A Home News Tribune staff writer since August 1997, Keith has been covering Rutgers sports since 2000, serving as the Scarlet Knights' football beat writer since 2006.

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About the Author

Jerry CarinoJerry Carino has covered sports for the Gannett New Jersey newspapers since 1996 and has been on the college basketball beat since 2003. A native of Old Bridge, he also teaches journalism at Kean University.E-mail Jerry

Josh NewmanJosh Newman has worked for the Press since September 2004 and began covering Shore Conference sports full time in September 2006. He is a 2004 graduate of Springfield College with a degree in communications/sports journalism.E-mail Josh

Ryan DunleavyRyan Dunleavy has covered Rutgers athletics for more than a decade, dating back to his days as a student at his alma mater. He became New Jersey Press Media’s Rutgers women’s basketball beat writer in 2009 and Rutgers football beat writer in 2013. Since joining the staff in 2004, the Morris County native also has covered the NFL, MLB, NBA, the Somerset Patriots and high school sports.E-mail Ryan